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Quick Tip: Workaround for NSX Edge Upgrade to VCF 9.0.1 running AMD Ryzen CPUs

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If you are planning to upgrade to latest release of VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0.1 and you are using an AMD Ryzen (consumer) processor, you will need to apply an additional workaround after your NSX Edges have been upgraded, for proper functionality. This is similar to the workaround that I had shared back in 2020, which is needed when deploying a new VCF 9.x environment due to the incompatibility of NSX Edges running on an AMD Ryzen CPU.

UPDATE (01/20/26) - VCF 9.0.2, the structure of the config.py has changed, you will need to identify the correct lines to comment out the AMD section. There is a more simpler workaround that can now be applied for all VCF releases, which you can find more details in this blog post HERE.

After the NSX Edge node has been upgraded, the modifications to the original system files are not persisted and we need to re-apply the changes before the NSX Edge nodes will run properly.

Thanks to Tomas Fojta for sharing this tidbit while upgrading his environment, which happens to run on an AMD Ryzen system.

Step 1 - SSH to the NSX Edge node as root

Step 2 - Edit /os_bak/opt/vmware/nsx-edge/bin/config.py and comment out L192-193 containing the AMD section and that will allow the NSX Edge to properly startup and complete the upgrade flow.

NVMe Tiering with AMD Ryzen CPU workaround for VCF 9.0

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If you have an AMD Ryzen processor and you are planning on use the NVMe Tiering feature with either VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF) or VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0, you will need to apply the following workaround for your VMs to properly boot.

Note: This workaround is only required on AMD Ryzen (Consumer) CPU with NVMe Tiering enabled and does not affect AMD EPYC, Intel Xeon or Intel  Core (Consumer) CPUs with our without NVMe Tiering.

On an AMD Ryzen CPU that has NVMe Tiering enabled, when powering on a VM, you might notice the operating system does not fully boot and the VM console may become unresponsive. After spending some time debugging with Engineering, it looks like there are some issues with specific AMD Ryzen CPU instructions that is causing the VM to behave this way when NVMe Tiering is enabled.

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ESXi on GMKtec EVO-X1 with AMD Ryzen AI Pro 300 Series (formally Strix Point)

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My experiences with small form factor (SFF) systems and Mini PCs over the years have primarily involved Intel-based systems, as they have been the most capable and compatible with the VMware ESXi Hypervisor—especially when it comes to onboard networking options.

Intel's introduction of their Hybrid CPU core architecture starting with 12th Gen (Alder Lake) and continues with 13th Gen (Raptor Lake), 14th Gen (Meteor Lake), and now 15th Gen (Arrow Lake), presents a unique challenge for running ESXi.

When AMD announced their Ryzen AI 300 Series processors (formally codenamed Strix Point) based on their new Zen 5 architecture, I was pretty excited with their approach to a "Hybrid" processor:

AMD's approach to its 'compact' Zen 5c cores is inherently different than Intel's approach with its e-cores. Like Intel's E-cores, AMD's Zen 5c cores are designed to consume less space on a processor die...But the similarities end there. Unlike Intel, AMD employs the same microarchitecture and supports the same features with its smaller cores.

Since both the Zen 5 and Zen 5c cores contain the exact same CPU features, they would be considered uniform cores unlike the Intel platform, which now includes three different core types (Performance, Efficiency & Low-Power Efficiency), requiring additional workarounds to be able to utilize most of the cores available on the SoC.

While there is currently only a handful of Ryzen AI Pro 300 Series kits that are available for purchase, I was fortunate to get hands on with one from a company called GMKtec, who is a relatively new player in the small form factor market. I have personally never used a GMKtec system before, so I was looking forward to seeing what they had to offer.


Disclaimer: As of publishing this blog post, a fellow colleague has not had any luck in contacting GMKtec to initiate a return, they have been completely non-responsive for several weeks now. I have also observed simliar negative feedback on various Reddit threads, which is certainly concerning for potential prospects. Users may want to consider purchasing GMKtec systems using Amazon, rather than directly from the vendor in case you need an exchange or return.

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